The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives was founded in 1978 by Reverend Master Jiyu-Kennett, an English woman who trained as a Buddhist monk at Dai Hon Zan Soji-ji, one of the two chief training monasteries of Soto Zen in Japan. She was a disciple of the Very Reverend Keido Chisan Koho Zenji, who was then serving as Chief Abbot of Soji-ji, and was certified by him as a Zen Master (Roshi). After Koho Zenji's death she returned to the West and founded monasteries, temples and lay meditation groups in Europe and North America. Rev. Master Jiyu died in 1996; our monastic and lay training continues the teaching and practice of her lineage.